Mexico

Banking and finance

The eight-strong banking and finance team at Holland & Knight recently focused on the areas in which it has increasing specialisation, namely real estate finance, infrastructure finance, and sub-sovereign finance. The team also works with its US offices, covering the Mexico side of cross-border transactions, offering an integrated service with capital markets and other practice areas in the country. In recent work, practice head Alejandro Landa Thierry led the Mexico City team that assisted borrower Premium Restaurant Brands obtain a $53m loan from Goldman Sachs in the US, a cross-border transaction that also involved the firm‚Äôs Miami and New York offices. In a domestic highlight, the firm advised Banco Santander on the $210m restructuring and financing of Spanish hospitality and real estate business Grupo Oasis. In the sub-sovereign loans niche, the team once again advised Banco Multiva on loans to various States, namely of Nuevo Leon (MXN$1.2bn, MXN$5.8bn and the combined amount of MXN$4.3bn as part of a MXN$42.7bn financial reorganisation), Veracruz (MXN$5bn as a part of a MXN$46bn financial reorganisation and MXN$2.1bn), Oaxaca (MXN$500m), Coahuila (MXN$1bn and MXN$4.2bn) and Morelos (MXN$838.5m). Meanwhile, in another multi-office case, the firm advised Apple Bank (on behalf of Savings and AirFinance Leasing, as its servicer and qualified business aircraft financial advisor), on a $10m aircraft financing to Rotor XM. Another key figure in the practice is Guillermo Uribe who focuses on securities and other capital markets, as well as FIBRAs and CKDs, as does senior associate Adri√°n Gay. Antonio Casares left to set up Casares Carrillo Abogados, and former office managing partner Boris Otto also left the firm.

Capital markets

Holland & Knight‚Äôs nine-lawyer capital markets team is respected for its consolidation and expertise. The core group of practice head Guillermo Uribe, senior associate Adri√°n Gay, and associate Jorge E Gonzalez have recently been handling mostly FIBRA and CKD work, namely assisting Fibra HD with a MXN$1.2bn debt issuance under its long-term placement programme; Fibra Uno with its $700m follow-on equity offering, the establishment of a shell registration for local market capital and debt issuances, and a two-tranche bond placement in the local markets for a total of MXN$7.1bn; and Fibra Inn on a debt tender offer for up to MXN$1.9bn and for a new debt issuance of up to MXN$2bn. CKD work included first and second subsequent issuances (of MXN$1.2bn and MXN$799m, respectively), for Helios CKD Fund. The practice‚Äôs other key partner, Alejandro Landa, assisted public credit entity Infonacot with a $230m consumer loan securitisation on the Mexican Stock Exchange.

Corporate and M&A

Holland & Knight‚Äôs corporate practice has undergone substantial change in the past year, with Boris Otto‚Äôs retirement more than offset by the arrival of the highly rated Luis Rubio from Jones Day. Other key individuals include Alejandro Landa, who has ‚Äėgreat experience and knowledge‚Äô, particularly in the energy and infrastructure sectors. The firm advised American Tower Corporation on its $500m acquisition of a telecoms entity which owns a 4,000km fibre optic network in key Mexican cities. The team ‚Äėgenerates great value‚Äô, particularly when ‚Äėit helps the client to solve complex issues with creative ideas‚Äô.

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Notorious marks or the declaration thereof, has always been an issue widely discussed in Mexico by the IP legal community. This is so because provisions of the Paris Convention dealing with this topic have for a long time been uses as an effort to cancel or nullify trademarks registered by Mexican authorities without really making an extensive evaluation of proposed denominations and without examining in depth if such marks may be potentially affecting rights acquired by third parties elsewhere. So, a specific regulation and legal frame that at least tries to resolve this issue is always a good start in the right direction.

By Ignacio Dominguez Torrado Uhthoff, Gomez Vega & Uhthoff, S.C. Why a new value? Is Mexico avoiding the economic fallout that the world may be facing? In Mexico franchises are worth more? Is Mexico not a country that the global economic standstill is or will affect? The answer is, not really. Are Franchises in Mexico currently experiencing a boom? Perhaps. Are Franchises becoming an important aspect in Mexican economy? Certainly.

Advertising in Mexico is governed by multiple bodies of law including for at least seven Federal Laws, five Regulations also of Federal application, a number of the so-called Mexican Official Standards (NOM's) and certain other laws and regulations applicable into specific States within the Republic of Mexico. All of them are focusing to establish the form and manners for producing and communicating advertising of products and services in Mexico.

It has been well publicized in the Mexican media over the last few months that the General Customs Administration (AGA) and the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI) are planning to launch a customs trademark registry, as a short-term solution to increase protection for trademark owners against the import of infringing and counterfeit products.

The evolution in the protection and enforcement of IP rights has also reached the Mexican practice. The traditional ways of defending a registered trademark on a non use contentious procedure have developed.